<p>Studiens syfte var att få kunskap om små barns litteracitet i förskolan. Jag ville genom observationer ta reda på vilka litteracitetshändelser som små barn skapar och är delaktiga i, samt hur barnens litteracitetspraktik ser ut. Genom videoobservationer på två förskolor, har barns litteracitet i åldrarna ett till tre år undersökts. Studiens resultat visade att barnen skapade och deltog i ett flertal olika litteracitetshändelser där berättande, skrift, text, tecken, symboler, pussel, spel, sjungande, målande och räknande ingick. I litteracitetspraktiken syntes barnens kunskaper om litteracitet. Barnen konstituerade sig som läsare, skrivare och berättare. Vidare hade barnen en rad uppfattningar om litteracitet och de gjorde medvetna och aktiva bokval. I resultatet syntes även att barnens litteracitetshandlingar inte var imitationer utan att barnen verkade i sin litteracitet. Pedagogernas inverkan visade sig också ha betydelse för barnens litteracitetsutövande. Genom att bidra, utmana och bekräfta barnens litteracitetspraktik möjliggjordes och utvecklades barnens litteracitetspraktik. Genom att inte uppmärksamma och ge utrymme för barnens litteracitetshändelser hindrades ibland barnens erövrande och skapande av litteracitet.    </p><p><strong> </strong></p>

Studiens syfte var att få kunskap om små barns litteracitet i förskolan. Jag ville genom observationer ta reda på vilka litteracitetshändelser som små barn skapar och är delaktiga i, samt hur barnens litteracitetspraktik ser ut. Genom videoobservationer på två förskolor, har barns litteracitet i åldrarna ett till tre år undersökts. Studiens resultat visade att barnen skapade och deltog i ett flertal olika litteracitetshändelser där berättande, skrift, text, tecken, symboler, pussel, spel, sjungande, målande och räknande ingick. I litteracitetspraktiken syntes barnens kunskaper om litteracitet. Barnen konstituerade sig som läsare, skrivare och berättare. Vidare hade barnen en rad uppfattningar om litteracitet och de gjorde medvetna och aktiva bokval. I resultatet syntes även att barnens litteracitetshandlingar inte var imitationer utan att barnen verkade i sin litteracitet. Pedagogernas inverkan visade sig också ha betydelse för barnens litteracitetsutövande. Genom att bidra, utmana och bekräfta barnens litteracitetspraktik möjliggjordes och utvecklades barnens litteracitetspraktik. Genom att inte uppmärksamma och ge utrymme för barnens litteracitetshändelser hindrades ibland barnens erövrande och skapande av litteracitet.

This licentiate thesis focuses on Sfi students (municipal adult education in Swedish for immigrants) with limited opportunities to participate in formal education prior to their immigration to Sweden, and their basic literacy development in Swedish as a second language. The overall aim of the research project is to identify experiences of literacy among the students, in their everyday lives as well as within the school setting, in order to explore how the students’ participation in different literacy practices provide a foundation for their investment in their own literacy development. Linguistic ethnography is employed as the overarching methodological approach, and the empirical data was produced through classroom observation, ethnographic shadowing and stimulated recall interviews. As a means of emphasizing the students’ perspectives on literacy and analyzing them in terms of investment, the emic approach has been particularly important. Drawing on examples of literacy events in the empirical data, literacy practices were analyzed. Understood in a broad sense, the concept of literacy here includes the use of a wide repertoire of semiotic resources, languages and technologies, as described within the field of New Literacy Studies (NLS, Barton, 2007). In addition to NLS, the theoretical frame used in the project was transliteracy (García, 2020; Canagarajah, 2013), critical literacy (Martin-Jones, 2007) and theory of investment (Norton, 2000; Darvin &amp; Norton, 2021). The results show that the knowledge, experiences and needs of the students are often marginalized by a deficiency perspective on their abilities as well as an ethnocentric view of functional literacy. In their everyday lives, the students’ various communicative purposes required them to use a multifaceted repertoire of interrelated abilities, modalities and semiotic resources, which differ significantly from those emphasized and utilized in the classroom setting. Through theoretical perspectives on investment, a tension between the students’ agency, on the one hand, and the dominant institutional understanding of how written language should be used and developed, on the other hand, is thereby made visible (see Norton &amp; Darwin 2015, 2020). / Denna licentiatuppsats handlar om vuxna elevers användning och utveckling av skrift på ett andraspråk såväl i vardagen som inom kommunal vuxenutbildning i svenska för invandrare (sfi). Med grund i lingvistisk etnografi har tre fokuselever, Sonya, Tara och Alan observerats och intervjuats. Gemensamt för fokuseleverna är att de tidigare i sina liv haft begränsade möjligheter att delta i formell utbildning och därför inte getts förutsättningar att tillägna sig grundläggande läs- och skrivförmåga. Uppsatsens fokus är elevernas möten med skrift och deras perspektiv på den egna skriftspråksutvecklingen på svenska. Studien bidrar därför med kunskap om hur det är att orientera sig i ett nytt land på ett nytt språk och hur tidigare begränsade erfarenheter av möten med skrift ständigt kontrasteras mot situationer i det starkt skriftspråkcentrerade svenska samhället. Därmed synliggörs de komplexa och dynamiska litteracitetspraktiker som eleverna är en del av och de spänningar som uppstår i mötet mellan dessa litteracitetspraktiker. Genom beskrivningarna av elevernas deltagande i de olika litteracitetspraktikerna visas och diskuteras även elevernas förutsättningar att investera i sin skriftspråksutveckling.

This master's thesis examines how the social activity of the library with books and literature can strengthen the contact between imprisoned fathers and their children. The project Godnattsagor inifrån has been studied from three different perspectives, the library, criminal authorities and the prisoners with their children. Interviews were conducted with the different actors of the project. The perspective social constructivism and the concept literacy practice were used to analyze the interviews and the project. In the prison reading program Godnattsagor inifrån the fathers choose a story from a children’s storybook and read the text, the story is recorded on a CD and sent to the child on the outside. The project attempts to create or strengthen the bonds between fathers and children with help of reading experiences. The fathers take part in a study circle where they are introduced to the library activities and practice how to read out loud to their children. This also includes reading and appreciating literature for themselves. I have noticed that Godnattsagor inifrån can inspire children to be reading people. It has also been noticed that the project can have the same impact on the prisoner´s identity. The cooperation between the prison, the library and the families increase the possibilities for both the children and their fathers. My knowledge contribution is to show how important reading is and why. What happens to the individual when given the opportunity to read? This is a two years master´s thesis in Library and Information Science.

The purpose of this master’s thesis was to study literacy practices in a reading group of nine women discussing fiction in Swedish sign language. The following research questions were examined: What patterns of action have taken form in this practice and what meaning is attributed to these patterns? How can this reading group be understood in the light of Päivi Fredäng’s research on identity and cultural changes in the Swedish Deaf world? How do the participants handle using two different languages and modalities during the discussions, and to what extent can this be understood using Mary Louise Pratts concept contact zone? Finally, the last question aims to explore the reasons behind the very scarce number of reading groups in Sweden discussing fiction in sign language. An ethnographic study was conducted through one participant observation and three semi-structured interviews face to face recorded on camera, one email interview and one recorded phone interview. The interviews in sign language were translated into written Swedish. What Peplow terms a ‘mimetic’ reading practice was the most dominant way of discussing literature, whereas thematic or synthetic reading practices were less frequent.  The participants found that the reading group broadened their reading habits and that the discussions sometimes had bibliotherapeutic elements. They often discussed issues related to the oppression of women whereas questions related to Deaf people and sign language were not often discussed. The reading group could be understood in the light of the changes that the Swedish Deaf world, and society at large have gone through over the last decades. The collective Deaf identity is more frequently based on shared values concerning sign language rather than ideological standpoints. More individualized perspectives and interest-based networks based on sign language become more common. This falls under what Fredäng describes as co-culture where deafness loses its superior position in the identity. The participants’ audiological and linguistic backgrounds were diverse, only around half of them had Swedish sign language as their first language. The literacy practices were to a great extent influenced by the diversity concerning the participants’ backgrounds. Some of the informants said that one main reason for joining was to improve their skills in sign language. To others, the reading group seemed to strengthen their skills in written Swedish. One aspect of the literacy practices of this reading group was language preservation, where the participants helped each other to a more ‘pure’ sign language. Using the theoretical framework developed in New Literacy Studies, the lack of reading groups discussing fiction in sign language could be understood as a result of the literacy practices used in the Swedish Deaf education system that followed the Milan Conference that took place in 1880. The conference led to the banning of sign language in favour of oral methods. Contemporary literacy practices in the Swedish Deaf world can be traced back to these practices in the education system. Further research is needed to study literacy practices among Deaf people in Sweden, for example among younger generations that have taken part of a bi-lingual education. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.